Region's home prices fell 11.7 percent in fourth quarter, report says

Home prices in the New York metropolitan area, including North Jersey, were at a median of $458,600 in the fourth quarter of 2008, down 11.7 percent from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, according to a report in the Record.

The report said nationally, existing home prices were down about 12.4 percent, to a median of $180,100, the NAR said. In New Jersey, 112,600 single-families, condos and co-ops were sold statewide in 2008, down 18 percent from 137,400 in 2007 and down 39 percent from the 184,400 units sold at the peak of the recent housing boom in 2005.